SlowPoke

I was out twice last weekend and again yesterday. I've spent some time on the Thames carping lately. It's a good time and a lot easier on the wallet than running the boat every weekend! -Brian

Good job John, sorry to hear about the prop tho.

You're thinking about a toggle bolt but I'm not sure if it would work in this case.... you could drill a big enough hole but it likely wouldn't spread with the floatation material inside the bench. http://www.factsfacts.com/MyHomeRepair/ima...ggleboltuse.jpg

Aluminium or stainless steel rivits. Make sure you calculate the grip range (thicknesses) correctly for maximum strength. Available at Brafasco or Fastenal. -Brian

I get that all the time.... you must watch a lot of porn.

Well done Mr. Beans! When Chris and I figure out the technique we'll be looking for those big boys too. -Brian

I'll pick you up Lando! Welcome to the board and great pic's/report Abberz

It doesn't surprise me that Don would go out of his way. Don and I go wayyyy back, June in fact when we were neighbours for 4 days. It's Ruth you have to keep an eye on, after dark she would sneak over while Don was sleeping and drink our beer. Phil, I hope you can make it up again next year in June. I wanted to go next weekend but it just wasn't do-able. I wish I had Lew's schedule! -Brian

Muskiestud (Chris) and I hit the banks of the mighty Thames once again. A quick stop for coffee and we embarked on our 3 or 4 mile journey. We arrived at the same location we went to last week but found it inaccessable. We ended up just outside of town at a nice location. After setting up the rods I was showing off the hair rigs I had tied the night before. Chris had a go at it and ran into the same issues I was having the night before. Tying off the hair must be a fine art in order to make a small enough loop. I found it easier to work the knot toward the end of the hair using a bait needle but there must be a better way. We're learing this carp stuff together and eventually we'll catch on to the techniques. As Chris was tying, his rod went off. He sprang into action, nearly un-crossing his legs. A nice fight, nearly five minutes to bring it in but it wasn't much bigger than last weeks fish. They fought much harder in this location. A scrappy 26"er Sooner or later we're going to get competitive about this carp thing but for now we're taking turns on the rods. Chris' rod went off again and he handed it to me. Another good tussle and we both thought it might be in the 30" range but it was actually smaller. I took a shot for Team 4 because we didn't have any carp enteries. Nice 24"er with attitude Not long afterwards Chris' rod goes off again. The fish promptly swam to shore and waited for patiently for Chris to release him. Actually, it was another good workout and the big fish of the day nearing 27"s. A quick pose and back it went All three fish came on Chris' rod with a long lead and baited hook. I was begining to lose some faith in this whole hair rig thing but finally my rod went off. Another good fighter putting a big bend in my very light rod. Having broke off last week, I upgraded my line and was now more concerned about the rod holding up but it did a fine job. Again I was thinking it might be in the 30" range until we saw him... clearly this fish has Napoleonic issues. Still a respectable fish and I was able to upgrade the earlier Team 4 entry by a couple of inches. A 26"er and a pose All four fish came between 7 and 8AM and then there was a lot of this.... Although the carp were still surfacing it was with much less frequency and we decided to pack up. Our original location was on the way home so we decided to give it a shot. Chris was able to lift a fallen tree that obstucted us earlier and we made our way into the spot. His Herculian efforts did not pay off however, all the fish had left early for lunch break. Another good day fishing! -Brian

Is it true that while you were pitching your show to a network you freaked out and bit the head off a rock bass? Pikeie, awesome report! No lack of smiles on that boat and a sweet largie!!!!! -Brian

3A for Sonar 3A for NMEA bus (GPS) 3A Nav lights 3A-5A Bilge 3A-5A Airator 20A AM/FM Radio 20A VHF Radio 20A each for downriggers

I've found the squirrels will eat them on the spot but the chipmunks load up 3 at a time and haul 'em away and they're back again within minutes. They must have a hell of a stash somewhere. Come to think of it, the cottage sits a little high in one corner....hmmmm.....

Nice pic's Lew! Will they eat out of your hand yet? Chipmunks are really skittish but the red squirrel might. Phil's neighbour at the cottage in Sauble feeds the chipmunks and squirrels all summer long. They've become pretty friendly and are a blast to photograph. You have to be quick before the Blue Jays start dive bombing them! -Brian

Good luck this weekend Mike! If weather permits, do you have any plans for Saturday the 25th on LSC? -Brian

I'm glad I'm not the only one wearing croc's - olive green. When my wife brought them home for me I didn't want to leave the house with them.... I felt like an idiot wearing them but they are so comfortable. Especially for fishing. Now I feel like an idoit when I'm not wearing them - damn croc tan lines. They're way better than watershoes too, they dry out in seconds but I wouldn't want to tread across the zebra mussles in them. -Brian

Congrats Terry, looks like a nice ride... I think you got a nice deal on it too! -Brian

I know squat about carp fishing. I've caught several over the years but this was the first time targeting them. What is it about this spot that "just doesn't look like a good carp spot"? When we happened upon this spot it looked to me like a gold mine... muddy/pebbly shallows with overhanging trees transitioning to a muddy/weedy deeper channel with very slow pools and faster current sections. When we arrived we spooked a bunch of them in another spot, very shallow and muddy. Maybe a foot of water. They took off upsteam leaving a pretty sizeable wake. Another cool site was watching a peregrine falcon doing fly-bys for us. The speed of a jet fighter with the abilty to change directions like a moth near a steetlight, just incedible! Then it did a low level fly-by just inches above the water, probably 50+ mph. It was a great morning but I really suffered at work tonight! I making a checklist for our next trip to that spot... -slippers, patio furniture... LOL -Brian

Nice fish, congrats!

I've found the Quarter Pounder w/cheese combo provides me enough gas for a week of fishing!

Hi Brian, long time-no see! Ready for another London swill? If I go to Erieau - Glasgow and Burwell will be on fire. I've learned to live with that I like Glasgow... 45 minutes from door to dock, nice ramps etc. You're right about Erieau though, it doesn't get any hotter than it is now! -Brian Howdy Cliff, stick to Greenday, Ramones are over-rated! I don't mind the slow starts... there's only one thing worse than getting a fish on while you're setting up, a double header. Way too much work, everyone gets excited and somebody dumps a tackle box on the floor! -Brian

Great pics and report! I think I need to give johnnybass my phone number, I can't catch a cold on Simcoe!!!! -Brian

When it's really quite you can sometimes hear them flopping around in the freezer!

I had similar trouble once and a polymer knot solved my problem.

Don't rule out Ron Fellows. He probably has more laps on that track while qualifing than the rest of field combined has racing. Carpantier may do well too but he's racked up a lot of open wheel miles on that track. Thanks for posting Joe, I forgot it was on and I am watching it now. -Brian

Hooked up with Speedtroll (Rob) and his friend Gavin today in search of some Erie 'bows. We got setup a little later than anticipated but not by much and I don't think it made a difference as the fish were a little slow waking up. Water was a tad rough first thing in the morning. Again, the forcast was wayyyyy off. One boat came back in while we were launching and said there were one metre waves at 45 FOW. The waves settled down after a few hours but it made for a fairly slow trip getting to our starting point. The action started with a sheephead off the leadcore/watermelon spoon. That was the only fish we landed on the leadcore setup today and I ended up taking the watermelon spoon off. I've had that spoon on there since the middle of May! Since we were 'bow hunting it should be no surprise that we got into the wally's with 3 or 4 in a row of average size. The bows later turned on with the addition of a Killer Bee stinger off the rigger. It seemed to be our most productive lure for the day. Since it was producing, I decided to run my second Killer Bee as a slider on the same rod. I sent the first one down to about 25', wrapped the line around my hand and just as I was about to snap on the slider all hell breaks loose with another bow. Using my flesh as a drag system (ouch) I tossed the second lure off to the side and somehow managed to tangle the line in the rod tip while trying to free my other hand. We managed to untangle the rod tip and I battled this badboy all the way in while whining about tendonitis in my left arm and my still stinging left hand. The boys were giving me a hard time about the whining and I didn't even say a word about my sore right shoulder presumably from 'sleeping wrong'. I must be getting old, I never used to sleep wrong! I could party all night long, pass out face down in a ditch and wake up refreshed not so long ago. But I digress. Rob got the net on this fish and as we brought it into the boat it spit the hook - sort of. It spit the lure and the hook stayed in it's mouth. I think the hook eye (siwash) separated just enough to allow the skinny part of the split ring to pass through the gap. It ended up being the big fish of the day or very close to it. Gavin had a nice bow as well while Rob was concentrating on sheephead and the cutest 'lil rainbow ya ever did see! Rob may chime in with some numbers but I think we went 9 for 13 or so on bows and wally's. A few sheephead found thier way to the boat along the way as well. All fish seemed to come trolling west at various depths over 45-55 FOW running around 2.8-3.2mph. It was a slow start and a slow finish but some great action in between! All the bows and eyes were safely released into the cooler.... Some of the bows... -Brian